Oceaninc

Violet Vasquez

March 14th, 2019

ENG 152- Dr. Abinader

Oceanic

Alas, a book that speaks to love an all its facets. The greeks had many forms of love to express, they were not all confined to one word, some would argue they expressed four type and others would say there were seven, on google, the seven outlines are; Eros: love of the body, Philia: love of the mind, Ludus: playful love, Pragma: long Standing love, Agape: love of the soul, Philautia: love of the self, Storge: love of the child. I am intrigued in every way that these different forms of love splatter the pages in Oceanic. Aiyana (classmate) and I read this book together, which was great in terms of process and reflection. We had to take several pauses but the piece I will focus on that spoke the most to me was Meals of Grief and Happiness. I feel it spoke to two sides of the same coin, how love can be heartbreak, but but not to forget it's rooted in love. I felt sad, and my eyes burned with tears in listening to Aiyana read part I. The second part help swallow them down before they spilled from the rims of my eyes. The roller coaster she takes you in this one page, is in need of a warning. I couldn’t believe how heavy my heart felt to then shift to a grounded and light feeling by the last word, “us.” Two letter word, to finish a two part poem, I don’t know if this was intentional but it centered where or why this poem came to be.

She speaks of children, love for mother, love for self, love of so many things but mainly focused on the other, who make you, us. I am in a romantic relationship, and I found myself sharing this pieces with my partner, but also my mother, and sitting and allowing myself to share these with myself and my friend.